How Valisure convinced us to be scared of skincare products

Valisure found benzene, a "known human carcinogen" at "unacceptably high levels" in your sunscreen, dry shampoo and now your benzoyl peroxide acne creams. Are we rubbing cancer into our skin, or is it deliberate fearmongering? IMO it's clearly the latter.
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In this video:
0:00 Benzene in your products: a short history
2:04 Temperature hijinks
9:32 Cancer shenanigans
14:09 Concentration illusions
24:09 Methodology fails
31:44 What's the harm?
35:19 Follow the money?
Blog post with more info and references here (Pt 2 coming soon): labmuffin.com/bad-science-val...
Thanks to ‪@Moskinlab‬ , Kind of Stephen, Ruby's Resource and Nini and the Brain for looking over my script!
More from Mo on benzene metabolism here: • Cancer causing Benzene...
🙋🏻 I'm Michelle, a chemistry PhD, cosmetic chemist and science educator, here to explain how beauty products work, debunk myths, and help you make smarter decisions about your skincare, hair and makeup!
Blog labmuffin.com
Instagram / labmuffinbeautyscience
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Threads www.threads.net/@labmuffinbea...
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Note: All non-licensed clips used for fair use commentary, criticism, review and educational purposes.

[@LabMuffinBeautyScience]

There's a lot I didn't end up including in here for brevity's sake - I'll probably update this as I remember more... * In the petition, Valisure suggest that benzene contamination could explain the potential risk of skin cancer that was investigated for benzoyl peroxide in the past, due to animal studies… it doesn't. Not all cancers are the same. Benzene is linked to blood cancers, there's no convincing link to skin cancers. Benzene was used as the base for lots of animal tests on other ingredients for skin tumours, and not all of them showed results. Benzene needs to be metabolised before becoming carcinogenic, and not much of this happens in the skin. The much, much more likely mechanism of cancer formation from benzoyl peroxide (which only seems to be a risk in specific animal models) is free radical formation, which is how UVA causes skin cancer. * They keep mentioning "online calculators" for predicting accelerated testing times, which is very bizarre because these calculators are a less precise version of the formula I showed for the egg (their linked calculator rounds it off to the nearest day). Why not... use the formula instead of citing a calculator? Do they not understand how calculators work? * Valisure (and Bunick in the AAD talk) say they validated their benzoyl peroxide results by getting other labs to test it, but they don't give enough info to know what that means - how similar were their results? Which specific results did they actually try to replicate? The dermatologist says "That GCHRMS is their million dollar machine that can go out to four or five decimal points in terms of mass identification" - the price of the machine and more decimal points doesn't really contribute much towards validating a method. Note: they also "validated" their metformin results by getting another lab to run the same method, and we know how that turned out... although more decimal points would actually have helped there, so I guess at least they learned one new thing? * The dermatologist actually mentions the USP whitepaper in his AAD talk, but says the problem with it is that the USP method for benzene detection isn't accurate for hand sanitizers... again, seems like a fair heaping of "missing the point" there. (They also say the issue with the USP method for benzene is that heat generates more benzene for hand sanitizers because heat artificially elevates benzene, so I guess they learned a second new thing! Congrat) * They replaced their preprint on metformin in 2022, with a reference to the "cautionary tale" FDA paper… it's worded so you can;t really tell they messed up. But it reads like DMF, the thing they conflated NDMA with, is also a huge problem - except the safe level of DMF is 300 to 3000 times higher. * The nitrite "physiologic conditions" paper doesn't declare any conflicts of interest re Zantac lawsuits - another interesting parallel with Wakefield... * Their patent seems to need a ton of rewriting, according to the international search report... * Article with EVEN MORE interesting revelations about Valisure, including gun charges?!: legalnewsline.com/stories/649673373-lawyers-guns-and-money-the-anatomy-of-a-mass-tort

[@JH-lz4dh]

🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯

[@powermonger89]

Soo much bad science 😭

[@br4insful]

I admire your work and I am really impressed how much time you are ready to invest into this. Thank you very much!

[@nancykerrigan]

Backing what others here have said; thank you for doing this. If you can do a part 2 please do so. INFORM THE MASSES!!😊

[@elisam.r.9960]

I wonder if we can get one of the legal KZbinrs to cover that last bullet point.

[@Kween.Eileen]

All it takes is ONE bad/misinterpreted paper to cause years of damage. Thank you so much for always teaching people and helping us become more educated consumers. ❤️

[@LabMuffinBeautyScience]

Yes! There are so many examples in beauty - there's definitely going to be more videos on those coming...

[@kdawson020279]

The guy who convinced parents that vaccination caused various conditions is still killing people from preventable diseases many years later. The US is expected to have a substantial measles outbreak this year, which in the '80s and '90s was unheard of. Today, you have people getting poliomyelitis, whooping cough, cancer-causing strains of HPV, etc that can be prevented. All because of one douche and a paper with a tiny sample set and a "correlation = causation" assumption. So, yes. It only takes a few well-placed idiots to ruin the benefits of science to mankind.

[@diakritika]

Autistics: "First time?"

[@simulatrixx9983]

I'm so tired of fearmongering. At this point if some genuinely dangerous chemical were to be found in any product I would be hesitant to believe it because of how often these 'dangerous chemicals' are complete bs.

[@Tea_Noire]

A good rule of thumb is if it's not being recalled off the shelves, then it's not that serious.

[@AltruisticWarrior]

​@@Tea_Noirelol you have too much faith. Here in the U.S. we'll continue using known carcinogens for years before anything is changed. Took years for them to do anything about Phillips CPAP machines pushing benzene into the patients lungs from the filters breaking down, for instance.

[@NothingXemnas]

Some substances can be harmful, but they are included in tiny amounts that do nothing. People vastly underestimate how powerfully self-healing our bodies are. And yes, I understand that awareness is healthy, and self-healing is not a good excuse to not care at all, but studying health (degree in pharmacy) makes us learn that ANYTHING we eat or drink has harmful substances. Merely living is a liability to ourselves (cell respiration and oxygen gas are toxic to us, weird as it may be). It takes knowledge AND wisdom to find the balance, and accept that MAYBE some diseases are just unavoidable.

[@cherriberri8373]

​@Tea_Noire yep. FDA statements and recalls is all you need to listen to to avoid the seriously dangerous stuff like that. Leave room to focus on the stuff that is allowed but not so great, like highly processed foods and high saturated fat contents in people's diet.

[@samblackstone3400]

Funnily enough that’s exactly what’s happened with glyphosate

[@the.lizardking]

I need a bingo sheet for medical information, with squares like "took things from the abstract", "made a funky looking graph to make difference seem dramatic", and "threw out data points because they messed with my trend line" 😂

[@LabMuffinBeautyScience]

Oh lord the "taking things from the abstract" drives me up the wall - it's rampant in cosmetic science

[@mica288]

and whenever Michelle posts a video, you can play bingo with that card. Let's see how many "bingos" you can get this year alone! 😂😂

[@thewanderingqueen725]

I literally had to study how to falsify graph data in nursing school so we’d be able to see through stuff like this

[@NadaNada-se8pq]

Michelle, thank you for fighting back against the clickbaitification of "scientific" "research" and the assclown content creators who enthusiastically distribute the misinformation for the sake of views. If only we had more of you and less of them. p.s. Post-it Super Sticky are the best!

[@LabMuffinBeautyScience]

Thank you! And thank you for the stick note recommendation 🙌

[@johndododoe1411]

With a steel shelf, magnets and plain pieces of paper hold up well . With a wood shelf, thumbtacks and plain pieces of paper hold up well .

[@Soulraven2735]

"assclown content creators" is a phrase that goes unbelievably hard.

[@MeretrixTricks]

40 minutes skincare investigation? Yes, ma'am!

[@montananerd8244]

This is soooooo my niche, too! Could not be happier right now, Cobb salad & Dr Wang doing a scam & skincare science special!!! ❤❤❤

[@LabMuffinBeautyScience]

It was originally longer but I couldn't handle more, this already took so freaking long 😭

[@MeretrixTricks]

@@LabMuffinBeautyScience Thank you for your knowledge, effort, and time!

[@enginerdy]

If she had done the review at 40C it could have been nearly *two hours* of investigation!

[@robertcollins4663]

40 minute science video on a topic I know nothing about yes please lol.

[@larisa8485]

The more time i spend in academia the more i'm aware of awful referencing, cherry picking information, obfuscating the real context esp in science!

[@LabMuffinBeautyScience]

It's gotten so much worse since I left - publish or perish has done so much damage

[@MissaBrevis]

​@@LabMuffinBeautyScience And then every time we have another huge research fraud scandal, the focus seems to be on the character of whoever's been caught this time, and not on the systemic problems and perverse incentives that are crushing everyone in academia, even the ones who try to do things the right way.

[@BIOL6895]

I remember wanting to follow up on a reference that was cited in a paper for an assignment and it had nothing to do with the paragraph it was cited on!

[@amynguyen2395]

Want this made please!

[@RainbowFishSaysHello]

Thankyou for being open to different lifestyle choices. I drink 8 glasses of shampoo a day for health reasons, and have encountered a lot of judgement and rudeness from medical professionals in the past.

[@princess_intell]

Including the ones who pumped your stomach? 😂

[@LabMuffinBeautyScience]

Watch out for the sodium 😬

[@MxchiefMaykr]

I've been really considering getting into the shampoo cleanse, any brands you recommend for strong flavour profile and low sodium?

[@mostlyvoid.partiallystars]

@@MxchiefMaykrI mean, Pert Plus obv. I bought seven flats of it in 1988, all the new bottles contain dry shampoo, red wine, and processed meat. Right?

[@daphnerogers4277]

What health reasons would result in you doing that?

[@ErikBPG]

Pharmacy student here. Your videos are so cathartic to listen to. Like FINALLY some sense and science on the internet

[@mynameisdabbas]

I love their double standard of them saying the FDA should have independent labs check results...but when another lab questions Valisure's results they are "wrong"

[@nicky7458]

I'm so sick of skin unicorns telling everyone to not use basic skin care products with a proven history/track record of safety and efficacy.

[@AlterMego1]

Thank you for introducing me to the term "skin unicorn"!

[@samaraisnt]

I lOoK gReAt AfTeR oNe HoUr oF BrIgHt SuN dAiLy aNd I nEvEr gOt cAnCeR ✨ (Don’t forget, I’m 63 and I look half my age! Suuuure Jan.) 😆

[@samaraisnt]

i forgot to put it in quotes but hope the satire is clear 🥲

[@LucieAnne]

My sisters dermatologist actually changed her prescription because it contained benzoyl peroxide "out of an abundance of caution" and now her insurance won't cover her new prescription 🙄

[@LabMuffinBeautyScience]

UGH. I found it particularly slimy how they targeted dermatologists with the benzoyl peroxide campaign. Bunick has been talking a lot about how important it is for dermatologists to put their patients first in the light of these "concerning" findings and to me, it's just so freaking scummy.

[@equustrekuus]

The way Valisure are referencing their papers reminds me of a "hack" some students at my uni used to use if they needed to bulk up their reference list to get a better grade. Once your assignment was finished, some students said to search full sentences from it on the uni search engine, and then use whatever papers would come up with that info. Didn't matter if it was even relevant to what you were writing, was just there so it looked like you researched more than you actually had. Feels like Valisure has heard of this "hack" 😂😂😂

[@LabMuffinBeautyScience]

Ugh, I feel like Science Vs might be using that "hack" for their podcasts - I have a breakdown of their vitamin C episode on my blog and the podcast content doesn't match the overall gist of their references at all!

[@BIOL6895]

I have a feeling academics do this all the time. I wanted to check out a reference from a paper once and it had nothing to do with the paragraph it was cited on.

[@darkstarr984]

Whoa. I wonder if anybody did that in my graduating class because I thoroughly read all 17 papers I referenced in my thesis, which was a little low. The average was around 30 references IIRC, and the recommendation was at least 20. I only even considered ones somewhat adjacent and ultimately used about a third of what I read in references because those happened to be the only things that actually related to the work I was doing, in any way. Not in phrasing, I could’ve found hundreds of papers with random phrases, but they wouldn’t have had the correct context for the project I did.

[@samaraisnt]

can you explain that reference thing?? 😭 that seems so easy to get caught omg

[@JagroopM]

Problem is that if this happens too often, people will start ignoring real thing that we would need to worry about that will happen eventually at sometime

[@LabMuffinBeautyScience]

Yes!! Definitely a risk

[@lachouette_et_le_phoque]

@@seroquelchamber it's probably best to focus on the absolute risks rather than just comparative in that case. She calculates how big the increase in risk is due to benzene from the product and it's such a small increase that I really, really wouldn't worry about it. Everyone has to decide for themselves what an acceptable risk is, so maybe you should be more worried about things like breathing exhaust fumes and getting petrol on your skin. In that case, listening to the video taught you where better to focus, great! But also maybe the absolute risk of eg breathing exhaust fumes isn't that large either - I haven't done the math.

[@nancykerrigan]

​@@seroquelchambershe is basically saying there are risks no matter how you live. Especially in modern times where practically all the elements aren't pure (air, water, etc.) Just the level of exposure should be the concern. It's the dose that makes the poison.

[@seroquelchamber]

@@lachouette_et_le_phoque yeah i spent like an hour thinking about it that day and realized i should have had my coffee and then thought about it more LOL i mean i never disputed what she said but i see now why the comparison is made and how it is relevant

[@seroquelchamber]

@@lachouette_et_le_phoque if you do the math lmk im a hypochondriac but also dyslexic so, ill never make it there (lol)

[@DrDrayzday]

Excellent video Michelle!

[@LabMuffinBeautyScience]

Thank you! This has been bugging me for a long time, as you probably know 😩 Hopefully the next round will have less fearmongering - thank you for your timely short on the BPO issue 🙏🏻

[@kyliessave8454]

AHHHH MY FAVESSSS ❤️❤️❤️

[@shizucheese]

I'm glad you brought up the comparison with Andrew Wakefield in terms of the fact that he had financial motivation behind saying the MMR vaccine caused autism and was saying it to try and sell his own product, because even before you said anything I was already thinking about that exact comparison. Another parallel between the two situations is the class action lawsuit angle; Wakefield was being paid by a lawyer who wanted to represent people who claimed the MMR vaccines caused autism but didn't actually have an scientific evidence to back it up. It's wild how many of these medical scare stories all boil down to the exact same motivations.

[@LabMuffinBeautyScience]

Yes! There's definitely some common moves in the pseudoscience playbook - might need to make a sticky note set 🤔

[@TaoMoksha]

And people still believe Wakefield‘s results. I’ve only heard one doctor say that autism on average begins to show around the same time most kids are supposed to get the mmr vaccine. I don’t understand why this isn’t mentioned more. Like there are more home robberies when ice cream sales increase. They’re not directly correlated, they happen around the same time. It’s not so ppl eat ice cream and during summer and ppl travel more so there are more empty homes. Like the mmr vaccine and age. Not correlated but occur around the same time.

[@suides4810]

For more info hbomberguy has a great..or horrible Video on that guy and autism.

[@katarh]

As soon as I heard "a car parked in Athens, Georgia" I knew exactly where that paper came from (Climatology Research Lab at University of Georgia.) They do a lot of fun experiments with "how awful can the sun get?" here in Athens. My favorite is the Trial Gardens, a beautiful flower garden located right behind a parking lot next to one of the dining halls with very little shade. Varietals are subjected to the absolute worst possible conditions for growth, and the survivors get the stamp of approval for the horticulture department to recommend for lawns. Anyway, having burned my hands on the steering wheel a few times, I've learned it's worth it to pay extra for a parking deck on UGA campus. And not to leave ANYTHING PERISHABLE IN THE CAR IN THE SUMMER, like sunscreen, because why would you do that to yourself?

[@lachouette_et_le_phoque]

As a European, I was listening to it while doing something else and just heard "Athens" and thought "Greece, sure yeah that sounds like a hot place". Whoops :D

[@LabMuffinBeautyScience]

That's really interesting, I love that this sort of research is happening - thank you for sharing!

[@lj8329]

Yesss the Trial Garden is so neat! I was so excited to hear Athens GA mentioned 😂

[@TwinbornMist]

Reminded me of a story I heard of this guy leaving an energy drink in the car during the summer (not to sure where) but he came back and it exploded everywhere 😃

[@saltiestsiren]

​@@TwinbornMist Happened to my ex but with a can of cola. Car roof was permanently stained with brown splatters lol.

[@naomi-USA]

As someone with an anxiety disorder and a hypochondriac who often panics with those clickbaits, I can't say enough thank yous for your videos. You're the only influencer that I find reliable.

[@vitsu_]

Genuinely I think hack science like this should be enough to be barred from publishing, if not outright illegal in extreme cases

[@MariosPOS]

absolutely

[@samaraisnt]

agree! like they live in another world, even advertising is more regulated….

[@seanvalentinus]

guys, did you know that Carbon is in the exact same category as Plutonium???? i saw them both displayed on the exact same table 😲😲😲😲 *when* is the government going to *do* something about our exposure to Carbon????????one

[@awaredeshmukh3202]

The difference between air/volume and liquid/weight ppm is something I'd NEVER have guessed on my own. It's a good reminder that being qualified to understand one field of science doesn't mean you're qualified to understand every other field of science!

[@clarissasteier5951]

Thank you so much for this. I was so scared about benzene.. i threw out sunscreens and repurchased different ones. It's really frustrating as a consumer to know what is safe to buy. I even recall reading a couple of different articles about this. So these journalists are not reporting this correctly either. It's a problem. I know it sounds simple to read these studies, but I would argue some of these scientific journals can be intimidating for a person like me to go through and fully understand.

[@LabMuffinBeautyScience]

Yes, the reporting on this issue has mostly been appalling - there's a journalist at Bloomberg (Anna Edney) who seems to love gassing up any sort of fearmongering story, she seems to get early notice from Valisure and has an article up on the same day. She also has some hero-worshippy stories on Craig Downs too (the guy who started the reef safe sunscreen scare and now is saying it's dangerous for pregnant women to swim at the beach because of chemical sunscreens washing out from beach showers, I kid you not). Unfortunately not many journalists seem to be science literate, or have a nose for shenanigans...

[@nancykerrigan]

​@@LabMuffinBeautyScienceit's crazy because you're right most journalists don't have a nose for science nor shenanigans because its not necessary to have a background in a particular subject to be a journalist, and there's a saying; "if it bleeds it leads". Lead with something that can scare people. Truth or context be damned.

[@nitzeart]

Comment for the algorithm overlords and because a 40+ video on the subject can only mean hours and hours of research. Thank you for always informing us about beauty science ❤

[@LabMuffinBeautyScience]

Thank you! Videos really do take a long time, especially when it's very graphic-heavy - in the last 4 weeks (not counting the hours spent on research on the previous Valisure issues, and not counting the time making the TikToks about benzoyl peroxide), my records show 168 hours, plus I have an editor who did a lot of the editing before I went in, plus the people who gave me feedback, and I still need to write up the article version... I'm ready to sleep for a week

[@starlessstephtx]

​@@LabMuffinBeautySciencethank you so much for your work. I really have lost a lot of my fear about chemicals because of you. Sleep well! ❤

[@lllovesalll]

Just coloring a whole sheet of paper with a fine tip pen was enough of a time investment!!

[@Amira-ml4ww]

adding another comment to b00st!

[@Dinormous]

​@@LabMuffinBeautyScience I really want to stress how much I appreciate your work. Feels like these days with social media anyone will mindlessly believe someone who screams nonsense but call bullshit on someone who tries to explain something based on science (covid masks, covid vaxx, vaxxes in general, "chemicals with unpronouncable names" in products, ....). I'm so glad I discovered your channel because at least now I know there's someone out there fighting the good fight, using facts to disprove misinformation, add context and nuance to situations, and improve people's critical thinking. Gives me a bit more hope for the future :)

[@HansStrijker]

They went to Yale? Probably the same way I went to MIT and Harvard. On vacation walking around Boston for a day.

[@claudiau2620]

I’m not even 3 minutes into the video and already I’m shocked. People are using chat GPT as peer review??? We’re COOKED as a species aren’t we?

[@lachouette_et_le_phoque]

Probably not much wrong with it if it was used as only an additional peer review - like how running a spellcheck doesn't replace an editor if you want to publish a book. Buuuuut that's not what she's talking about.

[@Valmills8989]

​@@lachouette_et_le_phoqueno. I work in AI and chatGPT, even the newest model, can be confidently completely wrong about many things. Definitely not ready to be used in medical reviewing.

[@lachouette_et_le_phoque]

@@Valmills8989 you're right, I meant it more as a starting point to check the spots it marks / statements it makes, rather than taking what it spits out as fact. But if it's often wrong, then that might be more work than worth it.

[@lauraon]

While I'm probably as worried about ai as the next person, I love how ai is finding the volumes of scientific fraud they got away with for so long.

[@clown134]

eventually AI will actually be good at peer review, just not yet.

[@AliceintheRabbitHole]

Valisure is that dramatic frienemy we all had in high school, who now sells MLM products on Facebook

[@LabMuffinBeautyScience]

😂

[@blacklily624]

😂😂 so true.

[@JillKnapp]

I hate hate hate that we live in a world where you have to make this video, but good effing GAWD I'm so grateful that you made this video. I wish it could be sent to everyone who attended the AAD Annual Meeting. Michelle, you are the GOAT! ♥️

[@peterwexler5737]

Benzoyl peroxide got me through my teens and early twenties. I'm 58. I'm still here. Oh, and I grew up with those benzene filled permanent markers. Those were way better than Sharpees for big projects. They smelled better, too!

[@lauraon]

Wait, is that the amazing smell they had? We loved smelling those. And the mimeograph sheets 🤣

[@itsgonnabeanaurfromme]

These influencers fearmonger benzene and a hundred other chemicals but still drive cars to the store they take they videos in.

[@emiliayap8762]

My chemistry degree was a looong time ago and I don't (technically) work in the field but I remember my first instrumentation lecturer telling us: shit in, shit out. You use a crappy methodology or don't prepare your sample/calibration curve properly, you might as well yeet your results out a window coz they're probably trash.

[@abc_cba]

My OCD always calms down when i watch Michelle be the mythbuster to show us facts. Thanks 👍🏻

[@patrickbateman6080]

if you are doing compulsions then that makes your ocd worse

[@olive2667]

@@patrickbateman6080they never said watching the video was compulsory. OCD obsessions are frequently highly illogical in nature, and listening to an educated professional explain how illogical the ideas at the root of your anxiety are, can help you fight those obsessive thoughts. a very common tactic in OCD therapies is learning to question and pick apart your obsessive thoughts in a logical manner, to help you realize how irrational your worries may be.

[@sarahb6321]

My own dermatologist told me to try to wean off benzoyl peroxide because of this nonsense. When I don’t use benzoyl peroxide my face explodes with horrific, scarring acne. Thank you for making this video. It’s awful this company capitalizes on fear mongering for their own gain- think if I’d followed derms advice and ended up with more scars and the psychological impact of untreated acne just due to this hack labs fear mongering.

[@Wumbology10]

Same 😂

[@stavendupree]

As a former HPLC analyst I just wanna thank you for mentioning how analytical instrument calibrations can be "nudged" to give higher or lower results around 27:00. Even mis-drawing your baseline on a chromatogram to be slightly larger than needed can raise hits a lot. You see this issue a lot causing inter-lab competition in the cannabis industry (since higher potency results = higher price for the cannabis...low potency numbers can drive a lab out of business) but I never see it talked about publicly. Really interesting to hear how lab science affects the skincare industry and public trust in FDA. You did so much research for this video and it really shows. Fastest half hour to ever go by!

[@db-gb5xi]

Thanks for this. I've seen several derms also say that Valisure needs to stop the fear mongering, sketchy testing and also called them out for having their own hidden agenda (money) especially as far as this latest BP scare.

[@LabMuffinBeautyScience]

Yes! Very glad that many dermatologists on social media are now aware of Valisure's antics. It was very difficult to convince people it wasn't a huge deal when the sunscreen issue happened in 2021, there were a lot of dermatologists contributing to the fearmongering that time and people tend to assume dermatologists know more about benzene than chemists, even though many chemists use it in the lab all the time...

[@mouse2390]

@@LabMuffinBeautyScience Unfortunately the sunscreen BS isn't dead--I'm still coming across influencer videos spewing that crap.

[@LabMuffinBeautyScience]

Oh definitely! I'm just relieved that most dermatologists seem to have stopped believing it's necessary to warn people about benzene in sunscreen, misinformation about skincare and cosmetics is always so superpowered when dermatologists endorse it 😭

[@bwlarker]

Thank you for making this video. I’m a dermatology resident in New York at a reputable university, and it’s been disheartening to see how much immediate traction this report gained among my peers and mentors without much scrutiny. For instance, I had no idea they were basically parboiling benzoyl peroxide to get their numbers.

[@Palucu]

No one can get me to stop using sunscreen or Benzoyl Peroxide. Thank you ma'am for this!!!

[@angiepangie989]

So glad I look up to influencers like this and not the ones who are like "everyone is lying about everything im the only one who can save you with the truth"

[@maristar852]

"Why can't they read. .... allegedly" LOVE it!😂

[@capricorneum7745]

🍿 I'm ready

[@literallybarbie]

me too 🍿

[@sankofa2231]

me three🍿🍿

[@Jen_Agnes]

It will now take half a decade to debunk that 6 carbon ring with dancing double bonds isn't in concentration enough in their skincare to cause cancer 🤦‍♀️

[@juliabinford6500]

Thank you so much!! It isn’t surprising that people don’t trust science, when it can be twisted for manipulation. It actually is reassuring that the FDA called them out. It sure didn’t make headlines, though.

[@ruths_youth]

19:43 the diy Final Fantasy victory music! I'm dead. I platonically love you.

[@LabMuffinBeautyScience]

My husband has been playing the new FF7s, it's burned into my brain 😭

[@nansi113]

@@LabMuffinBeautyScienceYour husband has great taste in video games!

[@PinkAgaricus]

lol I came from the mobile Crisis Core (Which contains a playable story theater [still gives rewards]) where I was farming for mats and hear it at the conclusion of a stage. (The title of it is Ever Crisis)

[@Finn4thewinn]

I’m sorry you have to keep addressing this but I do love how salty you are towards the goofballs creating issues 😂 On a sidr note, my dermatologist officially had to make a statement before prescribing benzoyl peroxide and sunscreens bc of this nonsense online. She was so relieved when I said I already looked into it and Im not worried lol

[@satutoivonen9679]

God darn you're good at this! This most recent benzene scare is just making me all kinds of mad. It was a cathartic experience listening to 40 mins of someone else raving about it in the nerdiest way possible. Thank you❣️

[@Phanta3]

I started this not realizing it was 40min and was hooked the whole time! ❤👏 I love your energy and the way you explain things. Thank you for fighting fear mongering and for teaching us how to improve our comprehension and critical thinking skills when it comes to studies and citations.🙏

[@LabMuffinBeautyScience]

Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it 😊

[@manojipereira9169]

I think this also shows that professional societies need to vet their sources better with the relevant experts, because eventually misinformation can make it into laws and guidelines

[@LillyPeppermint]

Great work, Dr. Michelle! I think problematic papers/labs with a conflicting interest are banking on regular consumers not having the education to think critically about what they're presenting. Average people are just doing their best to get through, with the information accessible to them. It takes a long time to have evidence based arguments, and many people just will tune out if things are 'too technical'. That being said, my postgraduate is in music research, so it doesn't really hold water here.

[@Jay-gl1ch]

The time and effort it must have taken to put this video together, I really admire your scientific integrity. You inspire me as an undergraduate who has always retaliated against bad science in the academe

[@AwkwardFX]

Michelle needs her own TV show debunking this industry.

[@escitalopram15mg61]

I love how muddy and unclear the state of science and journalism is that this could even gain traction in the first place, never mind 5 times🙄🙄🙄🙄

[@Nick-kf3io]

The video starting with you huddled in a corner looking angry and exhausted had me like "oh here we go" 😂❤

[@pethaudiddorol]

LMB LET'S GOOOOOO, commenting for the algo cos you deffo worked really hard on this one

[@LabMuffinBeautyScience]

Thank you! It consumed the last 4 weeks of my life 🥲

[@EmL-kg5gn]

Thank you so so so so much!!!! I have multiple family members who’ve been caught up in conspiracy theory level stuff because of fear-mongering like this. It causes them so much stress... It’s really sad to see them living with that much anxiety for no good reason so I really appreciate how much work you put into educating people

[@q_q6162]

you hunched over in front of that whiteboard with the extremely detailed flow chart reminded me of those videos where those people do “an internet [blank]’s appropriately unhinged explanation of […]” and honestly you need to do a series like that PUH lease

[@robertolie6798]

Valisure: A Measured Response

[@Nadia1989]

​@@robertolie6798 video duration: 5 hours

[@foxmulder1990]

Thank you for all the effort you put into your videos. There's so much fear mongering going on all over the internet it's reassuring to have someone knowledgeable and level headed dig into these claims and lay them out in a way that is concise and easy to understand for laypersons.

[@maleahlock]

Thank you!! I mentioned ingesting benzene via breathing on one of those panic baiting shorts and they deleted my comment 😂 It's so good to hear the actual science laid out so honestly by you. Might try surreptitiously mentioning this video and seeing if they delete my comment again.

[@Lampey22]

I love the way you talk about this, explaining every single thing like teaching to a little kid. Because apparently this is what these people who publish these nonsensical articles need. It’s very annoying that scaring the crowd with such ridiculous papers is this easy… You are amazing!

[@janerin-9246]

This has the same mood as that food youtuber I watched that went on a 20 minute rant about a bunch of researchers long ago that scared mcdonalds into changing their cooking oils with something that they thought was a lot more healthy but ended up not being that and obesity just worsened all over america.

[@Wee162]

Yeah I saw that. But seems like so many end consumers can’t even identify countries, or continents, or heads of state, or the moon etc anymore, so how are they supposed to deal with bad science? They get their info on social media. Just look at the anti-vaxxers … now elimination status is being threatened now in the US due to the rise in measles cases. People aren’t vaccinating their pets anymore. Humans sure have a talent for bad decision making and doing themselves more harm than good.

[@ten1982]

thanks for the video. i have OCD and health anxiety and fear-mongering in the media has directly contributed to aggravating my issues (especially health anxiety) i can’t count the amount of time and energy i lost breaking down and panicking because i thought i might’ve gotten into contact with a carcinogen or a toxin or infected with a rare deadly disease that articles, social media posts, and youtube videos discuss in often sensationalist, misleading, and exaggerating ways

[@clown134]

generally it takes prolonged repeated exposure to carcinogens for like, years, so try not to worry!

[@TracyD2]

I’m done. So very done. Integrity seems to be a character flaw these days.

[@flygirl5633]

I can see keeping sunscreen in a car for reapplication but people tend not to keep acne medication in the car (perhaps other than during a road trip) ...

[@lachouette_et_le_phoque]

I would actually recommend keeping it in the fridge if not too inconvenient, to extend shelf life! That's what the cream I got prescribed in Germany (where it's prescription only) said to do. It was expensive so you bet I followed that instruction.

[@AppliedScience]

Great video. I especially liked the discussion between ppm in gases and liquids. This can be confusing even for honest scientists when sampling a headspace or volatilizing a sample. Thanks for bringing this all to light. I had never heard of valisure.

[@alexandrarea7509]

Yay, a new Lab Muffin video!! Debunking some pseudoscience! Thank you, Michelle 😄

[@darknesss863]

Never watched long videos espdcially 40 mins long and usually sit on tik tok. Herr somehow watched through whole 40 mins in focus Was easy to understand, intresting, informative and also shows much research and hard work you put into it! Tysm for the info :D

[@benjaminsamaha4687]

Why must the scientific community actively contribute to misinformation 😭

[@LabMuffinBeautyScience]

As the great scholar Clifford Smith Jr once said, "cash rules everything around me"...

[@angiepangie989]

😂😂😂☠️☠️☠️​@@LabMuffinBeautyScience

[@ShadyLife101]

@@LabMuffinBeautyScienceBased response

[@MsLucia4179]

Follow the money and you'll see the problem

[@Wumbology10]

​@@LabMuffinBeautyScience💀💀

[@Justin_Osugi]

You paid so much attention to detail to everything in not just this report, but all of theirs. That's serious dedication and we thank you for it!

[@emilychurch6526]

This was incredible, thank you. Can’t believe how deep this goes!!!

[@raraavis7782]

You're a hero for laying all of this out for us in detail. The research work behind your videos must be insane 🙏🏻

[@montananerd8244]

A lot of us use benzoyl peroxide instead of deodorant/antiperspirant. It works great, if we quit, y’all will notice 😂😂😂. Not life threatening but possibly quality of life threatening

[@evelynlh]

How do you avoid it bleaching all your shirts? I've tried to use it in the past for acne, but after ruining many clothes and towels gave up and found other products.

[@lachouette_et_le_phoque]

@@evelynlh seconding, I can't imagine how it wouldn't most of your clothes, unless one wears only white?

[@NicollesDreamsShop]

Whoa Michelle!!! Love these kinds of deep-dive videos. Thank you so much for all the hard work and educating us.

[@LabMuffinBeautyScience]

Thank you! 😊

[@cristycrenshaw9109]

Thank you for breaking down things into digestible, legible info. I have no chemistry knowledge, you calling out the whys and hows of the bad science is really helpful and illuminating.

[@ezramashburn7597]

watching her videos is literally therapy, it’s so informative yet so entertaining, i really love her videos!!!!

[@montananerd8244]

By the way, cordial is usually booze (or candies that used to be full of booze) in the US 😂 I have an old family recipe for cherry cordial that calls for brandy and laudanaum (who doesn’t love brandy and heroin?😂) Iwas cracking up, I thought you were talking about adding something like Triple Sec & you were talking about Kool Aid drops!

[@kerry8461]

Oh I thought it was cordial the old fashioned alcohol that people in Agatha Christie books were always drinking too!

[@najuh74]

Your content is absolutely unmatched. I’m so glad to have found your channel!!

[@NiniaRajebashviliniiinia]

Michele, thank you immensely! I've been following your channel since the beginning, and because of you, I've become more knowledgeable. I admire the summits you organize, and I wholeheartedly support you. Sending love from a small creator in Georgia. Now in my Country I am trying to rise awareness!

[@joannamoon9888]

It’s like they think we’re still living in the 80s, when most people didn’t have access to the resources needed to understand it’s bs 😂 aaah thank you for being so passionate about this

[@puppppppies]

They know the average person isn't going to bother trying to debunk it because we're not getting paid to and have better things to worry about.

[@when-do-we-get-a-block-button]

just because we all (well, say 85% of us) have access to computers or a library doesn't mean we use it. most people (americans at least) are absolutely brain dead with the lack of thinking for themselves, its a whole issue thats GROWING and FAST (thanks public school) that no one wants to do research to prove the 'facts' theyve been told. instead people just hear a 'professional' say something and they take it as a total fact, and even worse they will assume that means everything other than that 'professional proof' is a scam and actively dangerous

[@ChryslerPTCruiser]

using excel for most of their data visualizations screams "no person with a data science background on the team" to me... giving off big theranos vibes for sure

[@butterpoweredbike6135]

I'm so thankful for how much I've been able to relax about personal care products because of your work.

[@goalstogetglowing]

Thank you so much for this!! I’m sure it was a HUGE amount of effort and time. You are the best

[@animetodamaximum]

Given how pay to win Ivy League schools are, I am not shocked that they went to Yale.

[@yaseminylmaz6291]

I wanted to check when video was released but I didn't expect it was only a minute ago :)

[@emmyandersson1249]

Great vid! There is no way I could've figured any of this out for myselft. People like you who communicate info and thus makes it available are so important. Thank you ❤🎉

[@hollyhollems4234]

I'm so glad you're able to make content like this! You are genuinely one of two skincare influencers that I will listen to (and I honestly prefer your work) because of the rigor and attention you put into this work. You've saved me a lot of time and money in a lot of places (not buying the Kate Sommerville vitamin c-retinol moisturizer because the vitamin c was at most 1%, finding a cheaper and better longwear lipstick because I knew to look for Isododecane, and so many other times I compared a product's claims to their ingreedients and put it back on the shelf). I may get the attention of Sephora's loss prevention (who then got suggested niacinimide for his oily skin) but it makes me feel so much better to have a knowledge base. I have confidence in my purchases thanks to your work.

[@Anonymous6h4a8h5a]

Honestly even if your videos were 2+ hours long I would rather watch that than any blockbuster movie out right now haha 😍thank you so much for everything you do! We need to clone you lol

[@Anonymous6h4a8h5a]

Also, the new 4K quality upload was an extra nice treat! Thank you!

[@sankofa2231]

I love her long form content❤❤

[@emv7316]

Commenting for the algorithm as your down to earth, easy to understand videos deserve wider zttention. Your explanation on ppm was a lightbulb moment. And using a packet of chips to illustrate your point really captured my arrention.

[@fernr3837]

I loved this. Thank you for making it!! It’s so comforting to put this all in context.

[@G0OD1004]

There are some model train products that use lead as the main material for its wheels. Since California has proposition 65, it says something of the sorts of, "This product contains a cancer causing material." Some model train reviewer showing that product said, "As long as you're not eating it, you'll be fine." Gosh, some people in California are just want to spread paranoia. Edit: The packaging said something more of the sorts of, "This product contains a cancer causing material."

[@lizcademy4809]

The exact wording is "this product is known to the State of California", which always reads to me as "California thinks it has super special info about the product". No, it's the same product everywhere, and North Dakota has the same info. California just has more lawyers and more legislators susceptible to scare tactics. I don't live in either state.

[@vera_ah]

In cali unless you prove a certain material isnt carcinogenic, they Will slap on that sticker. Ive seen trailer locks and some shoes with it on

[@puppppppies]

See, proposition 65 started as a good piece of legislation, but a bunch of ambulance chasing lawyers convinced manufacturers to put the warning on literally everything in order to avoid the possibility of a lawsuit to the point where they diluted the meaning to where it became completely useless.

[@montananerd8244]

I almost threw out $24 in aloe gel over this!! I generally ignore fear mongering, but this was presented like it was legit science. Tbh, I just couldn’t bear to toss six bottles of aloe gel (I love harmless DIYs & aloe is like 25% of my skincare lol) without an official recall. I decided to just put them in a holding area & to follow the story. now feel quite smug, esp since aloe went up to $5 (screaming deal tho compared to other brands, it’s fruit of the earth, mostly avail thru WM)

[@AnthonyLago]

I seriously love your channel as it is because not only do you care about debunking mis/disinformation but you also really KNOW your stuff, so when you include things like the battle victory music from Final Fantasy, it takes my love to a whole new level not imaginable.

[@Stellina]

I wish there were more people like you on the internet, Michelle. Thank you for your hard work.

[@werq180]

40 minute lab muffin video omg we cheered

[@philidor9657]

Amazing video. I remember reading an article in CE&N about the benzoyl peroxide paper. I had the same exact thoughts with regards to temperature shenanigans butI had no idea it ran this deep. Thank you so so much for sharing

[@kiyowo1903]

I find your videos really educational, I am doing my bachelor in chemistry and your analyze of and critically investigation of these studies are really mind opening and does teach me how to approach studies which they dont teach us at the university. People usually tend to believe scientist, doctors or studies blindly but your videos did teach me to think about them critically too, thank you for your work!!

[@israeldavila27]

Already a minute in, girl about to get cooking on these outrageous claims! 😤

[@peggedyourdad9560]

So, just don't store your benzoyl peroxide products in a hot area and you'll be fine? That's what I'm getting here. I think it already says to store in a room temp area out of direct sunlight on the packaging for almost all skincare products anyway lol.

[@puppppppies]

Sure, but how do you know that it didn't heat up in the truck on the way from the warehouse to the store? It's not like they're air conditioned. If you live somewhere hot it's not that hard to believe that they could get up to a problematic temperature range in the middle of the summer. Not 185F hot, but idk I wouldn't be comfortable about using this stuff if it's been at 140F either

[@LabMuffinBeautyScience]

Addressed truck temperatures at 8:04

[@venusflowerbomb3480]

I have been WAITIN FOR THISSSS. THANK YOUUUUU for bringing the logic back to the derm community

[@ken54525]

You are very thorough. I really hope this spreads. I really hate how some get away with this. Please continue debunking bad science and misinformation. Thank you!

[@soshi-805]

ouuu a 40-minute Lab Muffin video... and i'm only 0:43 seconds in but GET THEM AGAIN FOR ME!!

[@psterkhova1506]

Can you please do a video on fragrances, like bottled perfumes and fragrance additives in skincare? Focusing on harms and misconceptions?